Vacation is never about healthy food!

When on vacation, forget your diet and just dig in.

The best way to experience the culture is to do as the locals do. Eat what they eat is the best advice I have ever received and I have never refused it... to an extent.

My favorite places to eat are not high-end restaurants but hole-in-the-wall eateries and street carts that line the main road and the small sois in the CBD.

One such place is Hai Som Tam restaurant on soi Convent. The locals simply refer to it as Som Tam Convent. This is where I had my first (and so far, the best) som tam. I loved it so much that I repeatedly mentioned it in many of my posts.

I arrived the night before Songkran so the Pinoys were on holiday and had a couple of days of get-togethers involving mostly Pinoy food. Not bad, except I was here to escape all that! Durnit.

Babawi ako, shempre! So yesterday, I had a feast with Momsie and Popsie on the last holiday this week. Thank heavens Hai was open.

Thai-philes, drool away!

 

Tilapia roasted while encased in salt - juicy and not salty at all!

In Thai, fish is pla. So you can say this dish was salt-encrusted tilapla. Ay, corny... Uhurm! Moving on:

Thubwan (sp?) - barely-cooked pork liver. Those are mint leaves.

Kha moo yang - roasted pork neck.
Sinfully delicious. That green dip is AWESOME!

Squid and shrimp with ramen-like noodles. I don't like this one, but Mom and Pop scarfed it down.

som tam kai-kem - papaya salad with salted duck eggs.
This is LOVE!

khao niew - sticky rice. On the background is that insanely delicious dip I will most certainly be copying!

Heaven on earth: Roll some khao niew into a ball, dip in som tam dressing, LAFANG!
 

Tonight, I'm going out in search of Khun Chao and his lovely roti - with camera in hand - on soi Phiphat 2. Wish me luck!

What To Eat in 8 Cities - all in a day

I kind of like being here in BKK with Momsie and Popsie. It's my chance to pretend I'm their only child, harhar!

The three of us went to Terminal 21 yesterday - for a photo shoot, what else? Oh yeah, and to have some late lunch too.

Terminal 21 has a food court on the San Francisco Pier area (5th level). It sells most Thai street foods in a sterile mall environment.

kway chap (sp?) - roasted pork, offal, boiled egg, and sheet noodles in pork broth

 

oyster orsuan - tiny oysters cooked in what feels like gawgaw mung bean sprouts and egg

 

I forgot what this is called but it is essentially boiled and fried pork skin - think unpuffed, soft, and tender chicharon

One word: meh.

Mas madumi, mas masarap. That's not to say street food is dirty (really, now?) but I do think the flavors are more alive and robust when you eat it in the grottier places. There's more culture in it, too.

The saviors of this meal went unphotographed: the slushies. Momsie had a berry-banana blend, Popsie had two(!) glasses of ma muang (mango) shake, while I had a guava-grape tomato-strawberry-carrot and God Knows What Else shake. It was gooooooood!

Tomorrow is another day of hitting the streets with my baht in one hand, and a camera in the other.

Market Day!

Because you can't take the market monster out of the Pinay, Popsie and I stepped out this morning to the nearest little market a couple of blocks from the condo.

It's the last day of Songkran so most establishments are closed but some stalls in the talaat were open.

If I were vegetarian, I'd love it here - the food choices are awesome and very affordable. Heck, I'm not vegetarian but I love it here!
 

Lovely vine-ripened tomatoes

 

Mushrooms for the fungophile

 

Mung bean sprouts, katuray flowers, and young corn

 

Sawtooth coriander, coriander/cilantro, parsley, and a bunch of other things I can't identify

 

Spices and dried herbs

 

khanom tweh (sp?) - made from rice flour, it is steamed in those tiny cups. It is a symphony of sweet and salty.

 

Unripe mangoes (40THB/kg), longan (80THB/kg), and giant makopa (wax or Java apple)

 

Mangosteen - 40THB/kg. I ate a whole kilo by myself this afternoon!

 

Rambutan (80THB/kg) so fresh I swear the green spikes were moving (hehehe)

 

Our veggie stash

 I also made a "healthy" omelette for breakfast.

 

Garlic, onion, organic eggs, diced tomato, thinly-sliced asparagus stems

 

Hello, breakfast

Don't be fooled, though... Popsie, Momsie, and I - we had some Bacon Spam with this omelette. =)

Pinoy Fiesta in foreign soil

When Pinoys get together, there are three things that are consistent in those gatherings - regardless of location. This is true even in foreign soil: karaoke, inuman (imbibing alcohol), and food.

Lots and lots of food.

To wit:

pansit bihon chock-full of sahog

 

sweet pork barbecue

 

calderobo - the bastard (and yummy) child of adobo and caldereta

  

lumpiang Shanghai - na wala naman sa Shanghai

There was also sinigang na ulo ng salmon at hipon. Or maybe I should have written HIPON. Do you agree?

 

Major major hipon! The orange thing, not the girl in white =P

There were also not-so-Pinoy stuff but I have no complaints. Everything was awesome!

apple and raisin crumble - so good!

 

grape tomato, basil, mozarella, and prosciutto bites - I had five of these. Not sorry!

 I also stuffed my face with five servings of my favorite Thai dessert: khao niew ma muang!

mango with sticky rice: sweet, salty, sticky, juicy, and extremely satisfying

I am SO glad I have six more days here in Bangkok. I will attack street food next... if only going out didn't mean getting wet and having to wash out chalk from my hair!

How To Make Popsicles the Thai Way

It starts with this contraption. Underneath is a steel drum filled with ice and salt.

 

To the mothership!

 

The popsicle mix is poured into the molds:



Chocolate is the best-seller

 

Tuhog the stick into the center of the molds:

 

Christian makes tusok-tusok the sticks

Cover the contraption and shake, shake, shake it!
 

Popsie and Momsie do the Popsicle Shake

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough rock salt for the ice so the temperature never got low enough to freeze the damn things... but we have incredible desserts and two cakes to satisfy our sweet tooths (teeth?) so this utter failure was quickly forgiven and forgotten.

Better luck next time!



Khun Chao's Roti - three years after

I was ecstatic to be able to have the roti with egg I was (still am) obsessed with.

After three years, I saw Khun Chao and his roti cart in front of his usual spot in Phi Phat 2 - in front of Popsie's former condo.

Of course he does not remember me from 2009, but I remember him. I even wrote about his magic roti powers in 2010 and I'm pretty sure I wrote about him in one of my entries from 2009.

No matter, I got my roti (now 20 THB from 18 THB in 2009) and ate it on the way home - it was hot in my hand and made me forget I was soaking wet from the Songkran craziness with chalk streaked on my face and hair.

No pictures, as I decided not to bring electronics for fear of them getting either soaked or stolen.

More food pics on the next post. :)

My Noshing Buddies

Jeni and I aren't the only noshers in the family. My sisters (plus me = Three Little Pigs) are my partners in (food) crime!

My not-so-twin sisters with their carbon-copy frozen yogurt treats

Here's their favorite dessert: frozen yogurt with a double helping of new york cheesecake and a smattering of crushed grahams.

A calorie bomb perhaps, but it'd be a delicious way to go. I prefer it plain, though.

I miss you, Little Pigs!